put in a new antenna for my sirius as well as, finally, mount the unit in a permanent location. i had it in the cupholder for a long time. also cleaned out the cab while i was at it.swapped out some music. cleaned up the toolbox and reorganized my tools.removed the tray insert from one of my kit boxes and put it in the toolbox (why didn't i think of that earlier!!!). cut down the rear hoop of my system one rack to match the forward hoop i cut earlier this summer. added some extra support to my driver rear exhaust hanger (gotta figure out a better way). check on rear diff cover, tighen drain plug. check on spare tire to see if it got loose or moved (had to relocate winch). cleaned up driver floor mat.

 

tinted my tails and 3rd brake light!

 

cranked them torsion bars...now she sits level and i love the look!

 

First oil change at 3k miles, a little over 2 months. Nothing special, Mopar filter + Valvoline 5w20 from Wal-Mart.

Actually did this last week, but it took me this long to get over the fact that my ET from start to finish exceeded two hours.

Lessons learned:

Lesson #1: Don't change the oil in the presence of a 4-year-old that loves trucks. This would have saved nearly 30 minutes.
Spent ~5 minutes trying to convince the boy that it's a bad idea for him to crawl under the truck with me.
Spent ~2 minutes making sure that once he was under the truck that he wasn't anywhere that sharp edge that I scraped my knee on.
Spent 5 seconds showing him a praying mantis that somehow crawled onto the drain pan (still empty)
Spent ~20 minutes consoling him after he freaked out at the sight of the praying mantis, bumping his head three times as he repeatedly tried to stand up under the truck. After he finally crawled out and I calmed him down, he was happy watching from the sidelines.

Lesson #2: Use the right tool. This would have saved me at least 2 hours.
Spent ~15 minutes wrestling with the factory filter using an adjustable filter wrench that clamped on from the end of the filter. No dice. Factory must have used superglue to help seal the gasket.
Spent ~ 1 minute cursing while crawling out from under the truck. Fortunately my kid didn't pick up on the vocabulary.
Spent ~15 minutes loading the family into the mothership (my wife wanted to get out of the house) and driving to Carquest in search of a different oil filter wrench - the kind that looks like a big socket.
Spent another 15 minutes driving to Pep Boys since CarQuest only had adjustable wrenches.
Spent 5 minutes searching for the wrench in Pep Boys. Found it. Test fitted on the new Mopar filter. Good to go.
Spent 5 minutes looking at the LeBra Ranger tonneau. Maybe later.
Spent 5 minutes in line, paid for the filter wrench.
Since Home Depot is next door to Pep Boys, took a swing by there so my wife could get some items to add to the honey-do list and to pick up some floor cleaner. 30 minutes.
Lunch time. Drove through McD's. ~7 minutes.
Drove home in 15 minutes. Ram is patiently waiting.
Fed lunch to the boys. 20 minutes.
Finally got back outside to the truck, new wrench in hand, 4-year old shadowing behind. Both of us crawled under the truck. 2 minutes.
With the right tool, oil filter was off in about 30 seconds.

Lesson #3: Cover the steering rack with a rag or plastic bag so it doesn't get soaked with oil while removing the oil filter. This would have saved me about 3 minutes of cleaning the steering rack. Not a big deal, really, but I was in a pissy mood after spending 2+ hours so far on this menial task that I was looking forward to because I'm in love with my truck and because I wanted to prove to my wife that it would take more time to drive the truck to the dealer, wait for them to do the job, then drive back home.

The rest of the job took maybe 10 minutes max - remove drain plug, wait for the oil to drain, install drain plug, pour new oil.

Left to do: recycle old oil.

Hope to do better next time. Goal is 15 minutes.

 

Great story, thebean. My daughter was into cars ('til about the age of ten). Now she's a woman and she and her Mom just roll their glazed-over eyes when I talk 'bout my truck. Oh, well. A boy would've wrecked it by now. Share those times with your son. So what if it takes two hours to change the oil! As the years scurry by, it won't have been long enough.

 

Yesterday: Washed the ram. Today: Dropped it off at an autoglass repair shop to find out why i was leaking water in my cab. Turns out my 3rd brake light seal broke. They repaired it FOR FREE! I love my truck!

 

Thanks for your perspective, MikeHTally. Mikey's first oil change will surely be one that's etched in my memory, and hopefully his too!

 

New LED 3d brake light.

 

took the 22's off and put the stock 20's back on and took it to the storage unit, covered her up with a car cover and thats where she shall sit until next spring

 

Flasher for 3d brake light.